I have worked from home part-time and full-time for nearly 5 years now. My home office has varied from a sole desk in a teeny tiny New York City apartment to a large room with tons of natural light in my current home in Durango, Colorado. Over the years, I've figured out what has worked best for my workspace and thought I'd share a few essentials.
First up, a high quality desk chair. I usually work from a modified standing desk (creating using an Ikea hack that my husband discovered), but when I need to sit (and I do a lot of sitting with my embroidery) I need a comfortable and supportive chair. The Aeron by Herman Miller is hands down my favorite task chair. It's a pricey investment, but very well made and with great support. I got mine off Craigslist for a steal.
Having a good lamp is also key. As I mentioned, during the day, I get an insane amount of wonderful natural light in my office, but come sundown, it gets pretty dark. I use this lamp from Lavish Home primarily for embroidery work, but it makes a great task lamp as well.
With lots of paper goods comes lots of inventory: sleeved cards, additional inventory, envelopes, mailers....it's never ending. These metal shelving units have been a lifesaver. I also have a number of wooden wine crates that are so durable and make great storage bins.
I mentioned that I use a standing desk. To achieve the best height for my laptop, I use this awesome stand found on Amazon.
If you follow Happy Cactus on Instagram, you know that I have been hard at work creating new hand embroidery pieces for my next collection. I hope to release the next batch of embroidered artwork in a few short weeks. Sign up for the Happy Cactus newsletter so you are the very first to hear when these one-of-a-kind pieces are for sale!
This past December, Emily Blistein, the owner behind Happy Cactus retailer Clementine in Middlebury, Vermont, expressed her sadness over yet another act of gun violence and put out a call for designers who were equally upset to design postcards with a message of love over fear. I jumped on the opportunity to participate in this collaboration, called "Love is Mightier," and have been amazed by the wonderful work my community of stationery colleagues has produced.
Emily introduced the first volume of postcards about a week ago and the story behind Love is Mightier has been featured in The Boston Globe and Slate. The designers donated 100% of the design and printing cost and 100% of the proceeds of each sale will go toward to organizations working to end gun violence.
My particular postcard design champions love over fear with the message "Love More, Fear Less." I created a pattern out of a dotted heart design that reminds me of Islamic textiles.
You can purchase the first set of postcards in Emily's shop here. Stay tuned for future collection releases, too!
Learn more at the Love is Mightier website and on Instagram @loveismightier
Photos by Jessica Sipe.
My newest cards all feature original hand paintings by yours truly. I loved experimenting more with gouache and creating various color palettes and floral patterns. Here are a few behind-the-scenes snaps of the designs while they were being painted. You can find all of the new cards in the shop here.
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It's hard to believe that it's already February! January was one of my busiest months to date between some major press, completion of some big projects, adding new wholesale accounts, and more. I'm trying to settle into a groove with February and focus on some ideas brewing in my head. Here are my favorites of late:
Watch: I could watch Tian Tian, the National Zoo's giant panda, rolling around the snow all day. Pure bliss.
Listen (Music): This new video from Langhorne Slim is just wonderful. He performs his song "Changes" in a church in New Orleans with beautiful gospel singers.
Listen (Podcast): Last month I mentioned how I was reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, a book about creativity and the creative process. I've just begun to work my way through her related podcast series, Magic Lessons.
Read: My favorite chef, Michael Anthony (of Gramercy Tavern - my all time favorite restaurant), released a new cookbook at the end of 2015. V is for Vegetables goes through various vegetables from A to Z and Chef Anthony's favorite preparations. The recipes are soooo good. My husband and I have prepared carrot coconut soup, roasted leeks with tangerine vinaigrette, and kale with potato and leek soup. His preparations are straightforward and not too complicated. I look forward to working through more of his recipes.
Follow: The Instagram account of La Maison Pierre Frey (@lamaisonpierrefrey) is chock full of swoon-worthy patterns from the French design house.
Shop: I want to pretty much add everything from Uguisu's online shop into my cart. I'm longing for a drawer-full of these letter sets. And how cool are these airvases?! I'm dying to visit the Tokyo boutique in person!
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Since I work freehand and don't use a pattern or template while embroidering, every design is unique. If an item is listed as out of stock, it means that the one-of-a-kind piece of art has sold.
While you may be disappointed, you can contact me to to explore creating a similar design for you. I do my best to replicate the design as much as possible. You can also reach out if you are interested in a design in a different colorway or with a different color mat board. I try my best to honor requests. The lead time for creating a piece for you varies, but is usually about 3 to 4 weeks.
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As I've mentioned before, mini Valentines are some of my favorite products to create. These adorable minis come in packs of 8 so you have plenty to go around. I prefer to give them along with a little candy or chocolate.
But just who is deserving of a mini Valentine?! Here's some ideas of who to give out mini Valentines to:
- Classmates
- All of your grandkids
- Secret (or not so secret) crushes
- Your office co-workers or your employees if you're the boss
- Your students (as a former teacher, I loved giving out Valentines to my students)
- The important people in your life in need of a little love: the postman, the FedEx delivery guy, your hair stylist, your dry cleaner
- Your group of girlfriends
- Your exercise buddies, bridge group, or sewing club
- Your parents, in-laws, brothers, and sisters
- Your neighbors
Just a few weeks until Valentine's Day! While I believe that a special love note is appropriate any day of the year, I can always get behind a holiday that encourages people to send cards to those they love and appreciate. Here's some of my favorite Valentine's Day and everyday love cards in the shop. Shop the entire collection here.
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I was thrilled to discover that I was featured on Vogue last week in a round-up of "13 Inspiring Interior Instagram Accounts You Should Be Following." The post highlighted various women in interior design and decor with great Instagram accounts. I was honored to be included! You can check out the entire post here and, of course, follow me on Instagram @happycactusdesigns.
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I often find inspiration for my work in fashion and love reviewing the collections each season. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli took over as co-creative directors of Valentino in 2008 and their latest collections have been absolutely stunning. They seamlessly mix the delicate and feminine with the edgy. As my embroidery work has taken off I've also been noting how they incorporate hand stitching into their presentations. Here are some select favorites from Pre-Fall 2016 and Resort 2016:
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One of my favorite product lines I've released are my mini Valentines. I launched the Friendly and Fruity set in 2014, the Sweet Sayings set in 2015, and am now sharing the latest group to join the line - Little Hearts!
Each pack comes with 8 cards, 2 of each design. They measure 2.5" x 3.5" and are paired with tiny, sealable white envelopes. Another favorite feature - they are printed on soft white cotton paper!
They are perfect for kiddos to pass out to their pals at school, for your workplace colleagues, students you teach, family members....the possibilities are endless!
Find the mini Valentines and Happy Cactus' entire collection of love cards in the shop here.
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My newest collection of greeting cards just launched! Each new card features my original hand paintings. I loved creating these designs with gouache and celebrating sweet sentiments with colorful blooms and shapes. You can shop all of these new cards here!
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